Hi Koosje. Hey. How are you? Good Thanks. Hey so I just finished my homework for
Mattias and I want to talk to you about it. You've done it too, right?
I've done it too and I was kind of surprised actually by what I did.
Tt was fun! Yeah. Do you want to show yours or do you first want to -
Well you know, I I found I mean I think it was interesting this experience of
going back to your first day in school because that's first of all
a long long time ago in another century far far away but you know I don't
remember that clearly. I remember generally how I was feeling you know
about the world in those days but I I didn't have any particularly
traumatic events I remember. Did you? Same here. The same. I was
thinking about the first day of school I have no recollection of that, but I do
know that I was always with my very best friend that I know from when we were
about two years old or something, so I thought I do remember how the both of us
always stuck together in situations that were kind of scary or kind of exciting
so I thought maybe I can do drawing around that and the feeling of not
knowing what school actually really is and that first day, you know you're kind
of scared about - because you don't know what's going to happen maybe it's fun
maybe it's horrible. So and then doing that together, that makes it better so I
thought that that would be how to start with my drawing. What is your friend, who -
are you still in touch with your friend from when you were that young? Yeah yeah I am
NOT not that much but I mean when we were kids we went together like almost
every day but now, but our mom became really good friends so we always hear
everything from each other through our moms and we see each other every now and then
and then we just catch up and yeah it's great to me to have a friend like that
yeah. Yeah I moved so much when I was a kid so
you know I went to so many different schools in so many different places that
you know I remember some kids from when I was that age but God knows where they
are. I tried looking them up on Facebook at
one point but who knows, I mean it's been 800 years and I don't know just where they are with
you know and unless they have like a really unique name. One was going to
Howard Penny Roland Taylor and Phillip something or other, so if you're out there
and you see this you can friend me on Facebook I'd like to catch up.
One of the things I remember most about going to school at that age was the wait
for a bus. The bus was like a big source of trauma for me because when I was
around that age mainly I was living Australia and we would take this bus and
my mother just took me to the bus, put me on the bus, and then I went there and
then after a week or so of her taking me or maybe even less it was kind of like
alright go to the bus and I would go to the bus stop and wait for the bus and I
remember every time I would be waiting for the bus and I certainly had to go to
the bathroom really badly and I'd be standing there waiting waiting at the
bus stop and like that - I can remember that exact feeling and like thinking
like why didn't I go before I left the house and oh I didn't have to. It was like
It's nerves! I don't know what it was. So anyway. Here's, I brought a
couple pictures to show you of me in those days like this is this is me, see me
side by side that's me when I was probably seven. I'm wearing my school
uniform you know, this school that I went to had a uniform that was you know a
camp and we had to a tie and we always wore shorts year-round but they were
wooling shorts in the winter and you know. That was that was not the look. Wow.
Here's me also. This is me outside of this little house that my stepfather's
father built for me. It was a cubby house and I had a little mailbox and there I am
wearing my shorts, I look like a little business man. yes you
look like a business man it's true. and then is this yeah this is me holding
my pencil box. a lot of pictures like this of me where
I look like I'm like a refugee or an orphan. Maybe it's a little bit how you felt
because you moved so much. It's true I was sort of running from the law. So
show me your stuff. What did you do? show me. Well I'll
first show you because I have a picture of me and my friend I told you about
we are actually sitting in the bus I don't have a print. You still
have the bangs. I think my mom cut those so yeah
and I am very cool glasses that fit very different.
So hipster now. You look cool way back. I was so cool.
well that's the thing because I when I watched Mattias' class he was talking
about the cool kids and how he wanted to be a cowboy and he wasn't cool at all
because he was wearing too flowery of a shirt. I thinking I didn't even
think about being cool or not, I just it was just frightful I guess.
so um somehow I reverted into a sort of children's book type of illustration so
there's me. Got that haircut perfectly. There's me and my friend and we're
holding on to each other and he used to have a dog who was funnily enough called
Bunny and in those days you could actually take your dog with you in
school. Wow. Yeah it was also because his mom was volunteering in the school
library so she took the dog and then kept kept the dog with her, but sometimes the
dog could actually attend class. That was really nice so I thought I will draw the
dog as well and to go into school there was this dark door or I don't know
Gateway. Gateway and it was a bit dark ish and it wasn't
scary at all but I thought that would be a nice you know nice way to put it like
if you've never been there it's scary. So i drew a small pair of eyes there as well.
I didn't know what to expect and of course I came on my bike I guess and then in the
thought of Mattias I also drew an extra bit of a weird bike. So that's that's
kind of how my thoughts went and I just I was really surprised to do drawing
that was so cutsie and I don't know. Hold it up because I want to comment on some of
the art parts of it because I really it's got such a nice composition too you
know and you know it's interesting that like to me some of the technical things
like the way you did the dog, the dog's looking away, that shape of
him, how he's pulling into the gateway is really cool and I
like that that kind of white outline that you have around him that makes them
kind of you know gives you that sense of dimension and also the fact that the
black isn't just black but you have those lines, it somehow makes it scarier
and I think if it was all pure black it would have been just so overwhelming it
would have been too much whereas that texture is really nice and
uh I like your lettering with a drop shadow that's really cool too it's
really cool it's really a nice page. I really enjoyed it. I took my time for it
as well because I was just really thinking about how Mattias works you
know. I actually first started it in pencil and then outlined it with pen so
it took quite it was quite a process. But it was fun. That's cool. That's good. Let me
show you. How about yours? yeah? Mine is not um same level of artistic expression
really because I was kind of more thinking about just memories so anyway
so here's mine. There you go. So it's really more of this
like a description of who I was at that time, so it sort of like calling out some
of the things I remembered about me. So to see if I can explain them. So here is
yeah so like you I had my mother cut my hair. mm-hmm. She still cuts it actually
so this is home haircut, I'm wearing that that's kind of wool cap thing, I have
terror in my eyes. That is excellent the lines there. It's sort of like a strange
Tintin / Charlie Brown kind of looking creature.
it says here hate my uniform. This uniform had like I had these big
pockets and then here it says, my mom can't tie my tie. And it's true like these
day it really bugs me when you have a tie and like the the fat part is shorter
than the thin part. That is really not done. My mother would never get that
right though, and then that was quick, good motivation to know how to tie a tie.
here I had my first watch in those days. You know, I was very proud of that like six
seven years old like my first watch. So you'd be on time for the bus right? Right
exactly although my fly is open oh and afraid to ask were to go to the
bathroom so my legs are kind of crossed because going to bathroom seems like a
real preoccupation with me. Anyway and then this is the thing is I ate my lunch
on the bus going to school. You know my mother just gave me here's a bag of
lunch and then I guess I didn't really understand it so I ate my lunch on the
way to school and got the school didn't have it. Aw. Forgot how to tie my
shoelaces so shoelaces are undone. This school that I went to they were
pretty strict about the uniform and like you would get demerits or even
punishments for like if your socks weren't pulled up you'd have to pick up
50 bits of trash in the you'd like be sent out go to the playground and pick up
50 bits of trash and the school was always really clean because a lot of
kids didn't have their socks pulled up so you'd find like one piece of trash you
rip it up into individual pieces and you have to go to teach and say here here's
all my pieces. And what did you draw or write? I went to twenty schools on four
continents so I repeated this experience a lot, because a lot of times I'd be in
in a new school and you know it's like a new language and
you culture all that kind of stuff. That happened to me fairly often but anyway I made
it seem like it was really tragic. It wasn't particularly, but those are the
things you remember right? You tend to remember bad things more than good
things I think. I think so yes I mean I also I have very good memories of school
actually with especially with my friend so it's it's kind of strange to draw
something about it that is really scary but I think that's just the first time
for everything it's kind of scary so I think that
that's what we both sort of depicted in our in your drawings and yeah it's
interesting. It was a cool assignment. Thank You Mattias for taking me back down
memory lane and it was fun to share our homework. It was a fun fun idea. Very cool
yeah! Back to work Bye!